holiday

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Spending my winter break in SC was a great idea. I finally felt that I could relax and be myself. Which sounds odd, because I should be able to be myself always. Maybe I mean that I was able to unwind and became less frustrated with life, carefree. The picture above is the north side of Pawleys Island, SC, and the picture below is Murrells Inlet, SC. I had to pull my shorts out of the summer clothes drawer while I was there!

The week away was a truly beautiful time. My mom and aunt came to help me cook our family holiday treats. I am not a sweets person, but I really enjoy baking and making candy. I think it is kindof like how I like to clean; they both relax me.

Mom, Aunt Thelma, and I set shop up in my kitchen. We ended up making my grandmother’s applesauce pies, my aunt’s pecan pies, Aunt Meta’s candy, haystacks, peanut butter cups, and peanut butter coconut balls. My aunt is teaching me how to make my grandmother’s (their mom’s) applesauce pies. Of course, they laughed when I showed the pie crusts I got for them. Apparently, I should have gotten the frozen ones, not the graham cracker ones.

Applesauce pies are delicious. You can see them in the oven cooking, and my haystacks took up all the counter space. I tend to unintentionally make the haystacks bigger as I go along.

My aunt’s pecan pies cooking away. Her secret ingredient is white vinegar, which takes some of the sweetness away.

My Aunt Meta’s candy is pictured above on the right side of the plate. This was my favorite candy growing up. It is chocolate covered white fluff with pecans in it. Fluff being sugar, butter, eagle brand milk, vanilla, more sugar, and something else (probably more sugar). I guess Aunt Meta is technically my great aunt since she was married to my grandfather’s brother.

For Christmas Eve dinner, I took my Mom to a restaurant at the Inlet for the sunset view. This was the view from our table.

My friend’s son loves the Incredible Hulk, so I found him the cutest Hulk bow tie and Hulk shirt on Etsy.

Here is is showing me how the Hulk gets mad. Love the action shot!

Mom hates having her picture taken, and asked why I have to take one every time she opens a gift. I try to get her gifts that I know she will never buy for herself, as well as practical stuff. She is opening a gift that is her father’s signature (his last name) made into a gold charm for her charm bracelet. He died when she was in college, and she misses him the same now as when she was a young girl. One year I ordered his Marine Corps records and put them in a book for her. I took his signature from one of the documents for the charm. I ended up ordering myself one in silver.

Christmas day was spent with my aunt and part of her crew. Her daughter lives in Hawaii, so she wasn’t there. Mom spent the entire time with the youngest in the family, which wasn’t surprising. My aunt’s son was in town, so I was able to see him and his wife. They just moved to my hometown for his work, and I am not sure how much she enjoys it yet. I asked how she liked it, and her comment was how diverse it was in relation to her her hometown. Yes, we have a bit of everything there!

After spending so much time with the family, I needed some time away. Love them, but in small doses. My retreat ended up being a walk on Pawleys Island, and spending time with my friends. The holiday break was the best in quite a while.